Poles are designed for coarse fishing but can easily be used in the sea. They are especially useful for younger children, with no reel to tangle, but they can also perform brilliantly in the hands of an experienced angler. Here are a few tips to start you off...

Catching wrasse on the pole is a great deal of fun, but before you try it you need to adapt the pole that you have bought so that it can contend with the strength of these powerful fish. Basically this means removing the eye supplied and then replacing it with a more robust eye. (I usually make mine out of stainless steel.) If you have never tried doing a whipping before then please don’t worry, since it really is very simple. Right click on the picture below, save it to your hard disc, then print it to the full size of an A4 sheet of paper. That way you can have it to hand when you convert your new pole to sea fishing usage. Six metre telescopic poles, like the Masterline poles these girls are using, are all you need to get going. They are cheap, strong and efficient. End tackles are simplicity itself. You attach a length of elastic to the eye with a snap link and then tie a swivel to the other end. To the swivel you tie a 5 metre length of nylon. Rig it up as per normal float fishing, but with a smaller float than usual, and then tie on a short length of trace for the hook. If you are using prawns for bait then use a short shank, wide bend hook. If you are using worms then stick to an aberdeen.

If you don’t know how to set up float tackle then hopefully the diagram included on this page should make it clear but, if not, a larger diagram can be found in the shore article.

To fish the pole you simply bait up the hook and then swing it out, placing the float just on the edge of any rocks. Watch carefully for bites and then lift the pole smartly as they occur. (Your aim is to tighten into the fish, rather than performing a conventional strike.) Once hooked you need to get the wrasse up and away from any weeds. Start by lifting the pole high and then seeing how the fish responds. You should not need to collapse the pole to bring the fish in, but you may well be surprised at how hard they fight. A big wrasse will cut, run and even swirl on the surface. So far we have caught fish to 4 pounds on the pole, but I am pretty sure that we will get a bigger one soon!